Pig and Peaches

sometimes in life one must step back from their grind and establish a baseline of where food starts, at the most basic level. it can be hard to do this at a restaurant where you have pairings and plated choices that are usually ordered "as-is". mix this food criterium with some photographs, fish, pig cakes, cattle, ferris wheels, produce, and more 200 lb.+ women wearing belly shirts and you have the glorious kentucky state fair! saturday afternoon i took my daughter and her mother, and my buddy michael to this frenzy. we parked across the street at the executive west hotel, and my brother took me across the street on the golf cart. free parking and a ride to the front door of the south wing- priceless. once inside we perused the flea market style shops and found ourselves at the first food stall of the day. morgan's fudge. if you know the fair, you know the fudge. people start lining up as soon as the fudge starts getting worked. by the time the fudge is ready, there are 80 people slack jawed around the booth, and they scoop up the fudge and there is no trace of the 4' log in about 9 minutes. the flavors vary, and the velvety fudge is divine. not too gritty, not too sweet (if thats possible in fudge), and still very warm. it really does melt in your mouth.

after main street kentucky, we decided it was high time for a corn dog. the simple stand to the right of freddy farm bureau has served as my outpost for as long as i can remember going to the fair. at $3.50 each, we grabbed 3 for our first snack. a little ketchup and mine was gone. still warm corn breading that was applied thickly. an old acquaintance serving the treats lent some conversation to this food stop. on to the midway as my daughter rode the merry go round and the train. she is very precise in what she wants to do. we could not find a train, but she swore it was there. after searching, we found it. she is still calling this the favorite part of the day. as she rode the train, i snuck over to the elephant ear/funnel cake stand. i imbibed in an elephant ear. this was the best thing i had all day. as sierra twirled around the track, the three adults enjoyed the warm, buttery, cinnamonic treasure like it was kobe beef. we were on a bench, eating from a paper plate in my lap, and we were all 4 smiling like we had won the powerball. simplicity.

after passing on randi gallrein's roasted corn, we bought some fresh kentucky proud salsa made close to home in taylorsville, ky. the pineapple whip soft serve ice cream was staring us in the face and we could not blink. we got in line and paid the $3 for a cone. ohhhhhh, was it good. perfect balance, perfect temperature. what else needs to be said. my sister was in the air on her way to Hawaii, but i was enjoying their fruits many miles away. as we walked through the tobacco and tomatoes, the ice cream was quickly vanishing.

we had been on our feet for about 4.5 hours to this point, so we decided we should start heading towards the gate, because we knew we would be tempted by more delicacies. an italian sausage proved to be the temptress. although it was small for the bun, the flavor was there, as my daughter enjoyed her cheese fries. they remained crisp even smothered in cheese. we wrapped up our date with the fair, and headed home. my brother gave me a tour of the renovation process of the hotel. as head of security, we had access to all of the hotel, so we looked at the new windows and the new restaurant, the blue horse. opening soon and to be reviewed soon. AE